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Monday, October 25, 2010

If there is one thing in abundance in the world, beyond poverty, corruption and bad politics, it is our worries. Maybe the first three are causing it :). Like the poverty of character, worries are the disease of the mind that eat into our core.

We may think worries are a comparatively modern phenomenon with a fast life, more pressure, uncertain times etc. and it was great in the past, it is not so. Of course, there were and are carefree and worry-free people always, but we are talking about the middle of the curve people. In 'mahAbhArata' महाभारत, when 'yakSha' यक्ष, the spirit of the lake, asks 'yudhiShThira' युधिष्ठिर - what is more [common] than the grass?' he answers - 'Our worries.'

And in the same epic, when the wise minister 'vidura' विदुर is advising the emperor 'dhRitarAShTra' धृतराष्ट्र he says that 'Do the right thing, the just thing, and you will have nothing to worry. For worrying destroys everything.'

Too much worrying never helped anything. If it were so, I would have solved the world hunger decades ago!

Physically and psychologically, worries eat away into our very being. We are never smiling when we are worried, so instantly it robs our beauty away from us. In the long run, it causes loss of sleep which leads to those puffy eyes and bad skin. It leads to loss of beauty of the form. After all, they call it a beauty-'sleep' for a reason!

Worry takes away appetite and that leads to a bad health, weak body. The spurts of binging leads further deterioration of health.

Too much worrying blinds our thinking, and the ability to make proper decision. We get biased and one-tracked and make silliest of mistakes when we worry too much. Such decisions only worsen the situation, leading to more worries.

And all this leads up to some real diseases as well, not just of the thought but of the body. Depression, lack of immunity, headaches, ulcers - what not.

So, plan, be concerned, but not worried. Not excessively worried to the point that it is santApa संताप - full mental torture!

santApAd संतापाद् = from, because of santApa संताप
tap तप् = to heat up
tApa ताप = heat, suffering, fever. it is used in both its literal and figurative meanings.
tapasyA तपस्या = that which gives heat, suffering, a penance. austerity of the mind and body.
saMyak सम्यक् + tApa ताप = santApa संताप = full heat, total suffering, worrying,
santApAt संतापात् = from santApa, because of santApa
santApAd संतापाद् - the last t त् changes to d द् due to sandhi.

bhrashyate भ्रश्यते = declines, falls. (passive voice)
from bhraMsh भ्रंश् root which means to decline, fall.
from this there are many related words like -
bhraShTa भ्रष्ट = corrupt[ed]
apa-bhraMsha अपभ्रंश = the new languages that resulted from the 'decline' of sanskrit as a perfected language.

when used as intransitive verb (AtmanepadI आत्मनेपदी i.e. the result is on oneself, one falls, declines) then the verb goes as 'bhraMshate' (present tense, singular)
when used as a transitive verb (parasmaipadI परस्मैपदी , result on others) the verb goes as bhrashyati (present tense, singular)

rUpam रूपम् = form, beauty.

balam बलम् = strength

GYaanam ज्ञानम् = knowledge, thinking, intelligence

vyAdhim व्याधिम् = disease

Richchhati ऋच्छति = [one] goes to, gets
(one goes to ... the state of being ill)

आम्र-सेक-पितृ-तर्पण न्यायः
= āmrasékapitṛitarpaṇa nyāyaḥ
= Amra-seka-pitRi-tarpaNa-nyAyaH
= the maxim of watering the mango tree while offering oblations to the ancestors. killing two birds in one stone.

so this maxim says that one may be offering water oblations to the ancestors, but in the same act, one ends up watering the mango tree as well.

the mango is considered the king of fruits and the fruit of kings (the second one easily disputed by people today). india is one of the largest producer of mangoes and at least of the best varieties of them.

mango is critical to indian culture, for the spring onset is indicated by the mango buds coming out and the cuckoo starting to sing even sweeter than before, the classical description of spring.

it has been indian tradition to take care of neighborhood trees planting, watering etc. and many customs are created with trees in the focus or just involved. today 'educated' people may call it 'superstition' to worship a peepal tree or any other such tree, but for ordinary people not yet touched by ego of knowledge or fast and mobile life, these rituals made it enjoyable to practice the wisdom of land.

today we have govt programs to plant trees and public doesn't care. traditionally, trees have been central to many ceremonies. even today, you will find at certain holy places, large banyan trees on which devotees tie red thread or put a tiny statue of a deity and many such things. it all ends up keeping the trees in the focus.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Most of us aspire for wealth. And while it is important to live in society, it doesn't always have to be in the form we know of.

In today's world, we all know of immigrants, people moving from one country to another. Many come to US for jobs. How do they get a job in a different country? By their knowledge and ability. Knowledge is a great friend and wealth in a new place. By our knowledge we can already know how to move around and mix and gel in the new place, people, custom, rules. Or this could be within the country, like India where customs change from state to state. Or within countries of Europe.

In a foreign land, our knowledge is our greatest asset.

In difficult times, while friends and money can be of lot of help, it is ultimately our presence of mind, intelligence that helps us out of it. It helps us to not get into bad times to begin with, but even if we get due to unforeseen factors, we get out of it by our own intelligence.

The true wealth in difficult times is our wisdom, which makes best use of all resources (including money or how to get it) and finds a solution.

In the after life, we get heaven or hell based on the deeds, the karma (कर्म) we did here. The credit and debit system works in the KBA (Karma Bank of Almighty). What comes handy there is what we did here. If we followed dharma(धर्म), the right conduct at right time, then we accumulated wealth for the other world. Dharma is not religion, but the way of just life that upholds the basic interests of all the members of the society. It is law, morality, duty all rolled in one.

And above all these, good character (decency, humility, nobility) is appreciated in all situations. It is the wealth for all times, anytime, anywhere. Being a gentleman or lady never goes unappreciated.

Everything starts with a good character. Everyone seeks good character in other person - be it employee, teacher, doctor, service personnel, prospective spouse.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

It is a general complain these days, that good people are not seen much. Kind of a lost breed. Scriptures maintain that humans have not evolved but degraded, with four quarters of good (sattva सत्त्व, dharma धर्म) in the first era of satya-yuga (सत्य-युग), then three quarters of dharma and good in tretA-yuga (त्रेता-युग), only two quarters in dwApara-yuga (द्वापर-युग). Now in kali-yuga (कलि-युग), we have only one quarter of goodness left.

No wonder we have all sorts of troubles in this yuga (युग), of increased speed of creation and consumption, but a very slow speed of satisfaction.

The essence of this, of decent people, of ladies and gentlemen as opposed to the wolf and the witch, is very nicely caught in an example from nature. This also shows that the problem of finding good people is not new! From Hitopadesha -

good people are like coconuts and sometimes are [even] seen.
others are like berry, and enchanting from outside only.

What does it all mean?

Good people are like coconuts - hard from outside, soft and sweet from inside and are sometimes seen (rarely seen). There is a wonderful verse in Hindi on guru -
गुरु कुम्हार शिस कुम्भ है, गढ़ि-गढ़ि काढ़े खोट
अंदर हाथ सहाय दे, बाहर बाहे/मारे चोट
i.e. guru is a potter, disciple a pot, [guru] incessantly removes [deep set] flaws.
he supports from inside, but strikes outside.

Even the scolding of good people is only for your own good. They personally have no agenda, they may not even run to befriend you, but they wish well to all.

And others [bad people] are like berries - soft from outside, hard from inside and found everywhere. There are so many verses on evil minded people and to be careful of them, that one is surprised about either no one was paying heed and the advice had to repeated, or that evil intentioned people have always been a lot more. And the cause of most of this 'evil' is selfishness, pride, false attachment, ego.